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Thayse Mota, Accounting

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When Thayse Mota transferred to UMass Lowell from Northern Essex Community College in the fall of 2010, it was so easy she thought something might be wrong.

“I began to worry, but I shouldn't have,” she says. “I met with a transfer counselor once or twice. All my credits transferred. It was so easy!”

The ease of transferring was no accident.

Says Mota: “I was always very serious about my studies, so I kept checking, right from the beginning, that my credits would transfer. I always knew I wanted to go on with my studies, I just didn't know where.”

When she began to research her options, she realized immediately that UMass Lowell was the place for her. “I joined the transfer honors society, Beta Gamma Sigma, but since I was working full time, I didn't do too much on campus,” says Mota, who is originally from Brazil and worked throughout her undergraduate career as a self-employed translator.

In spite of her busy schedule, Mota maintains, “it was very easy to feel that I fit in. I made friends with people in my classes. I am very grateful for my experience here. I have no regrets.”

She also quickly felt as though her professors could be counted among her friends. “I could have gone to any of them and they would always be there to support and help me. I would hear people say that and thought it was a cliché. But this is my real experience!”

Thayse graduated with an accounting degree in May 2012, but, she says, “I still talk to my professors all the time. I had two job interviews last week and I was nervous. I emailed all of them, and they all responded with support.”

She’s approaching her next steps just as seriously as she approached transferring.

“I got a scholarship from UMass Lowell to the CPA licensure review course, so that’s next. I am also going to start my Masters in Accounting in January 2013. So by the middle of 2014, I should have everything I need to be licensed.”